Tuesday, 17 April 2012

It was no surprise that FIDE Master Yee Soon Wai comfortably made his third and final IM norm at the Brunei Invitational Grandmaster Torunament held in Bandar Seri Begawan from 13-17 April 2012.

Yee has been for some time now Brunei's No.1 player (by some distance) and has been a very active participant in regional events where he has gained valuable experience through playing against numerous Grandmasters and International Masters while at the same time getting the full benefit of a personal coach in terms of both opening preparation and games analysis from their National Coach Grandmaster Tahir Vakhidov (now in his sixth year there!).

The Brunei Chess Federation has been a big supporter of the young man financially in their joint quest to have their first ever IM and he has not disappointed by making IM norms at each of the Round Robin tournaments organised each year at home to give him that extra bit of help.

It has taken sometime for the first fruits of the vision of BCF President Hj Zainal Ali to get a homegrown Grandmaster, a journey that begun in over 10 years ago in 2000 and one has to admire the sustained effort year after year by a dedicated committee (with just too many contributing members to be able to mention all by name) and the hundreds of thousands of dollars raised and spent.

Now Yee just needs to get his rating past 2400 from his current lowly 2200.

Thursday, 12 April 2012

Taking advantage of the presence of Grandmasters who played in the Brunei Campomanes Memorial Grandmaster Open 2012, the Brunei Chess Federation is also organising the Brunei Invitational Grandmaster Tournament immediately after from 13-17 April.

I will also be staying on as the Chief Arbiter which means it is unlikely I have any leave left to participate in the 750 Years Melaka International Chess Festival as I had earlier planned to.

With a last round win over Indonesian FIDE Master Pitra Andika, until then the surprise tournament leader, Grandmaster Dzhumaev Marat emerged as the champion of the Brunei Campomanes Memorial Grandmaster Open 2012.

It was a good day for the Uzbekistan players as young International Master Jakhongir Vakhidov also won his last round encounter against fellow IM Sharma Dinesh K from India to take second place.

The Brunei Campomanes Memorial Grandmaster Open 2012 was organised by the Brunei Chess Federation (BCF) at the Orchid Garden Hotel in Bandar Seri Begawan from 7-12 April with a prize fund of USD 10,000 provided by Rosneft.

Young 13 year old Malaysian Yeoh Li Tian despite being rated 2204 proved to be the star of the event, finishing in a tie for 4th-8th places while successfully playing 4 Grandmasters, 2 International Masters and 1 FIDE Master and missed an IM norm by just half a point.

Wednesday, 11 April 2012

After 6 rounds, two thirds of the way through the Brunei Campomanes Memorial Grandmaster Open, there is a four way tie at the top on 4.5/6 with Tahir Vakhidov grinding down Yeoh Li Tian to join Dzhumaev Marat, Pitra Andika and Yap Kim Steven in the only decisive game amongst the leaders.

Earlier in Round 5 the lead had once again changed hands when Dzhumaev Marat beat Dao Thien Hai who failed to hold the black side of the Sicilian Defence.

Joining him on 4/5 is Yap Kim Steven who inflicted the first loss on Sharma Dinesh K, and unheralded Pitra Andika who took advantage of a horrendous blunder by Oliver Dimakiling who hung a knight in a completely winning position.

The Vadkhikovs had earlier drawn quickly as did GMs Nguyen Anh Dung and Sriram Jha, of course Dao and Dumakiling, Turgueza Mari Joseph who beat William Lee and Mas Hafizulhelmi who won over Mohd Aliuddin, and they were all eventually joined by Yeoh Li Tian in a tie for 4th to 11th places with 3.5/5, the last after a hard effort to hold Richard Bitoon in a Rook & Knight vs Queen endgame.

Monday, 9 April 2012

In round four, of the top four boards, three games went all the way, but the shock of the round was 13 year old Yeoh Li Tian's win over top seeded Oliver Barbosa who in the previous round had prevailed over Malaysia's top player Mas Hafizulhemi.

Young Li Tian showed great resourcefulness to refute Barbosa's attack to take home the full point against an admittedly somewhat off form player but take away nothing from his giant killing feat that Malaysians have already seen quite a few times before.

Dao Tien Hai showed his class this round to easily beat early leader Jakhongir Vakhidov and take the lead on 3.5/4 as Marat Dhumaev drew a solid Sharma Dinesh K, the elder Vakhidov had nother short drawm this time against fellow GM Nguyen Anh Dung, while Sriram Jha held Yap Kim Steven.

This mornings saw the first GM match-up with Dzhumaev Marat playing Sriram Jha. But as in the other top board game between Nguyen Anh Dung and Sharma Dinesh K., the Indian barricades held firm with the right balance of active play and their games all ended up drawn.

Yap Kim Steven was very happy with a short draw with Tahir Vakhidov who is also balancing organiser duties while the younger Vakhidov survived the usual complications including the throwing in of the kitchen sink attack by Oliver Dimakiling to even take the full point!

Despite having the Black pieces, Dao Thien Hai comfortably squeezed the point from Mohd Aliuddin but it took enormous risks and a time trouble blunder from top seeded Barbosa to beat the now always solid Mas Hafizulhelmi.

So Jakhongir Vakhidov is the sole leader with 3/3 with Dzhumaev, Sriram Jha, Yap, Tahir Vakhidov, Nguyen, Sharma, and Dao all on 2.5/3. But it is very early days yet with 6 more rounds to go and everything for all to play for for all in the tournament.

Sunday, 8 April 2012

The first round started seemingly routine for the top seeds but after an hour of play it became obvious that getting the full point wasn't going to be so simple for some. But as is usually the case, the more experienced professionals were able to break through in the third hour of play.

Of the favourites, GMs Barbosa, Dao, Marat, Vakdhidov, and Nguyen had no problems. But the challengers found it a bit more difficult with many young Malaysians putting up a fight.

For example 11 year old Benjamin Lee was stubbornly holding on against former Filipino junior champion Mari Joseph Turqueza and after finally reaching a drawn position to record the first surprise of the day, he then decided to actually try and win and in a few moves was completely lost. Still it would have been a wonderful learning experience!

Although rated over 450 points less, teenager Fong Yit Ho did deliver the big upset the round had promised for so long with no less than a Grandmaster scalp when he outplayed Richard Bitoon in a blitz finish but by then he was already winning as the Filipino had gambled in a position where he was not better and perhaps even a little bit worst after he misjudged and misplayed his attack.

It was a great achievement indeed for a young member of one of the most dedicated chess playing families!

With a field of just 40 players, tough match ups came early and so there were many harder fights in round two that would be normally expected but none of the pretenders seriously tried to take on the favourites.

But of course to win a tournament you need a great will to win and three of the most uncompromising players in any tournament they play in would have to be Dzhumaev Marat, Oliver Dimakiling and Yap Kim Steven and so far all are showing excellent form to go with their self belief.

And joining them in the lead with 2/2 in their own determined way are Siriam Jha, Nguyen Anh Dung and both Tahir and Jakhongir Vakhidov as well as Sharma Dinesh K who took down an overly ambitious top seeded Oliver Barbosa.

Organised by the Brunei Chess Federation from 7-12 April under the leadership of its President Hj Zainal Ali with Vice President Pg Abdul Rahman Yussof the Tournament Director (in photo on the right with Grandmaster Tahir Vakhidov distributing player allowances), the latest edition of the Campomanes Memorial was made possible through a prize fund of USD 10,000 provided by Rosneft.

Top seeded is Oliver Barbosa from the Philippines who is back for his third successive annual pilgrimage to Brunei and he is expected to have serious competition from Vietnam's Dao Thien Hai and Uzbekistan's Dzhumaev Marat and Vakhidov as well as from experienced competitors Richard Bitoon, Nguyen Anh Dung and Oliver Dimakiling.

The Brunei Campomanes Grandmaster Open 2012 will be followed by a 10 player Round Robin FIDE title norm tournament held from 13-17 April 2012 and more chess is of course available soon after at the 750 Years Melaka International Chess Festival in Malaysia from 20 April to 1 May 2012.